Tag Archives: ASIS Europe

Although the 13th Edition of the ASIS European Security Conference at The Hague is still in full swing, Nedap is already looking back on a successful event.

As Gold Sponsor, the company was closely involved in the organisation of the ASIS Welcome Party. In addition, Nedap’s CEO Ruben Wegman took part in Wednesday’s opening plenary panel discussion on ‘The Future of Security Technology’.

Six months after the decision taken by ASIS and Nedap to add an informal networking event to the conference programme, the ASIS Welcome Party – powered by Nedap – took place at The World Forum in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday 1 April. 350 enthusiastic security professionals caught up on developments in the security sector.

ASIS International president Richard Widup at the Welcome Party

At the beginning of the evening, the multi-talented Niek Boes played the role of his spectacular character, which party attendees soon referred to as ‘The Robotic Man’. Delegates also enjoyed the musical performance of Keys & Colors, who played requests during the evening.

This session was moderated by British journalist Brian Sims BA (Hons) Hon FSyI (Media Solutions Manager for UBM Live’s Security and Fire Portfolio) and also featured Ray Mauritsson (president and CEO at Axis Communications) and Roland Billeter, president of continental Europe at Tyco Integrated Fire and Security.

During the discussions, Wegman explained his vision on the role of hardware in physical security, to which he cited the importance of a change in the thinking of ‘traditional’ security suppliers.

“Looking at the current security market, you see that little has changed in the last decades,” stated Wegman. “That’s remarkable, especially when you consider that a security system handles huge amounts of data and functions as one of the major IT systems within a company.”

Nedap CEO Ruben Wegman (left) chats with colleagues at the ASIS European Security Conference Welcome Party

Wegman continued: “That’s quite a paradox, because in physical security hardware is still leading. Controllers are often dedicated to perform only one functionality, such as access control. This is rarely beneficial to clients, who often encounter inflexible systems where expansion is unnecessarily expensive. A patchwork of systems may be the end result.”

Nedap’s CEO added: “Taking this into consideration, it’s important that physical security systems start to behave in a similar fashion to IT systems, where generic hardware and open standards have already been a logical concept for many years. For the future of physical security I foresee the same principle.”

Wegman is adamant that generic hardware and open standards in security are the only way to ensure that security systems can easily be tailor-made according to customer requirements and be easily integrated with existing IT systems.”

In conclusion, Wegman explained: “The security industry has to invest in making generic hardware and standardising software so that customers receive the freedom they need to roll out a scalable and flexible system on a global basis.”

The 14th edition of the ASIS European Security Conference takes place in Frankfurt between 29-31 March 2015.

ASIS International has announced that Europol is partnering with ASIS Europe 2014.

Europol is the European Union’s law enforcement agency whose main goal is to help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens.

For its part, the 13th ASIS European Security Conference and Exhibition is a unique end user-focused educational event that’s expected to attract around 500 senior decision-makers – including Chief Security Officers – from all over Europe.

The event will be held on 1-3 April 2014 in The Hague, Netherlands at The World Forum.

Specifics of the agreement

Under the agreement reached between Europol and ASIS, Rob Wainwright (Europol’s director) will be a keynote speaker at ASIS Europe 2014 on Thursday 3 April.

Rob Wainwright: director of Europol

Europol will also give a presentation in the main educational programme focused on counterfeit product and will hold an exhibit space in the exhibition area.

Finally, a professional visit to Europol headquarters will be organised.

Rob Wainwright was appointed director of Europol in April 2009. He’s also currently an active member of the World Economic Forum, primarily on cyber issues.

Prior to joining Europol, Wainwright graduated from the London School of Economics, University of London with a BSc in 1989. He quickly became an intelligence analyst in the UK in the fields of counter-terrorism and organised crime, where he remained for the following ten years.

Since then he has honed his skills in those areas of expertise and, from 2000 to 2009, he has held such key positions as head of the UK Liaison Bureau at Europol, international director of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and chief of the International Department of the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

Wainwright is credited with establishing the international strategy and operational capabilities of the newly-formed agency.

Wide range of security issues

Talking about the event, Radek Havlis CPP (senior regional vice-president of ASIS) said: “ASIS International is delighted with the support a renowned institution such as Europol is lending to ASIS Europe 2014. For many years, ASIS has been the voice of the security profession in Europe, encouraging private-public sectordialogue. We believe that this co-operation will further reinforce our aims.”

The 13th ASIS European Security Conference and Exhibition will cover a wide range of security issues in 33 high-level educational sessions divided over three parallel tracks.

The conference will also feature:

• a Chief Security Officers (CSOs) Round Table Summit organised by the CSO Roundtable of ASIS International
• a Technology and Solutions Theatre specially created for exhibitors to showcase their products, services and expertise to delegates
• unrivalled networking opportunities at the Welcome Reception and at the President’s Reception as well as business lunches and networking breaks

ASIS International has announced that Ivo Willem Opstelten, Security and Justice Minister of The Netherlands, will give a Keynote presentation during the opening plenary of ASIS Europe 2014, which takes place on 2 April.

The 13th ASIS European Security Conference and Exhibition runs at The Hague in the Netherlands from 1-3 April.

Ivo Opstelten was appointed Security and Justice Minister on 14 October 2010. First, in the Rutte-Verhagen Government, then from 5 November 2012 in its successor, namely the Rutte-Asscher Government.

After graduating, Opstelten worked for the municipality of Vlaardingen between 1970 and 1972. He was then, successively, Mayor of Dalen (from 1972-1977), Doorn (1977-1980) and Delfzijl (1980-1987).

Ivo Opstelten

In 1987, Opstelten was appointed director general for public order and safety at the Ministry of the Interior. From 1992 he was Mayor of Utrecht, and then Mayor of Rotterdam between 1999 and 2008. Finally, Opstelten was acting Mayor of Tilburg from 2009 to 2010.

Formation of the Rutte-Verhagen Government

In 2010, from 4 August to 4 September and then again from 13 September to 7 October, Opstelten was the mediator in the negotiations that resulted in the formation of the Rutte-Verhagen Government. He joined that Ggovernment from 14 October 2010 as Security and Justice Minister.

Godfried Hendriks CPP, Member of the Board of Directors of ASIS International, said: “ASIS International is honoured by the participation of Minister Opstelten at ASIS Europe 2014. Such high-level participation can be seen as recognition of the leading role that ASIS holds in developing the security profession in the Netherlands and across Europe. ASIS believes that a continuous dialogue between practitioners and the public sector is critical to making the world a more secure place.”

Details on the conference

The 13th ASIS European Security Conference and Exhibition will cover a wide range of security issues in 44 high-level educational sessions divided over four parallel tracks.

The conference will also feature the following elements:

• Chief Security Officers (CSOs) Round Table Summit organised by the CSO Roundtable of ASIS International
• CEE Workshop focusing on security issues in Central and Eastern Europe
• Technology and Solutions Theatre specifically created for exhibitors to showcase their products, services and expertise
• Unrivalled networking opportunities at the Welcome Reception and at the President’s Reception, business lunches and networking breaks